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Alejandro Fernández Announces 2020 'Hecho En México' World Tour

Alejandro Fernández performs at the 20th Latin GRAMMY Awards in 2019

Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images

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Alejandro Fernández Announces 2020 'Hecho En México' World Tour

The 28-date trek, which takes the revered ranchera singer across North America and Europe, is named after his forthcoming 2020 album

GRAMMYs/Feb 12, 2020 - 10:12 pm

Mexican rancheras star and Latin pop singer Alejandro Fernández has announced dates for his Hecho En México World Tour. The 28-date trek, which kicks off this May and runs through December, will take the revered singer across North America and Europe and will include his debut shows in Toronto, Canada, London and Paris.

The newly added global tour dates are an extension of the initial leg of the Hecho En México trek, which he announced last November and runs across his native Mexico for multiple dates starting this month. 

The tour is named after his forthcoming album, Hecho En México, Spanish for "Made In Mexico," which releases this Friday (Feb. 14). The album, which features collaborations with Christian Nodal, Luis Carlos Monroy, Jorge Massias and Chico Elizalde with production by Áureo Baqueiro, sees Fernández returning to his mariachi and ranchera roots.

Alejandro Fernández is considered ranchera royalty. He is the son of ranchera icon Vicente Fernández, the latter of whom is widely known as El Rey De La Música Ranchera, or The King Of Ranchera Music, for his dominance in the traditional Mexican music genre. Alejandro is also the father of Alex Fernández, a rising ranchera singer. 

Last November, the Fernández clan stole the show at the 20th Latin GRAMMYs when the three of them performed live onstage together for the first time ever, delivering a moving performance spanning three generations of ranchera music and culture. 

Read: Alejandro Fernández Revealed

In 1997, Alejandro Fernández released his sixth album, Me Estoy Enamorando (I'm Falling In Love), which marked his departure from ranchera music and expansion into the wider Latin pop canon. The platinum-selling album topped the Latin Pop Albums and Top Latin Albums charts in the U.S. and received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Latin Pop Performance. Fernández received his most recent GRAMMY nomination, for Best Mexican-American Performance, for his 1999 album, Mi Verdad. He has also won two Latin GRAMMY Awards.

Tickets for Fernández's 2020 Hecho En México World Tour go on sale Friday, Feb. 14, at 9 a.m. local time. For more information and for the full tour routing, visit his official website.

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GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016
Kendrick Lamar

Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

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GRAMMY Rewind: Kendrick Lamar Honors Hip-Hop's Greats While Accepting Best Rap Album GRAMMY For 'To Pimp a Butterfly' In 2016

Upon winning the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for 'To Pimp a Butterfly,' Kendrick Lamar thanked those that helped him get to the stage, and the artists that blazed the trail for him.

GRAMMYs/Oct 13, 2023 - 06:01 pm

Updated Friday Oct. 13, 2023 to include info about Kendrick Lamar's most recent GRAMMY wins, as of the 2023 GRAMMYs.

A GRAMMY veteran these days, Kendrick Lamar has won 17 GRAMMYs and has received 47 GRAMMY nominations overall. A sizable chunk of his trophies came from the 58th annual GRAMMY Awards in 2016, when he walked away with five — including his first-ever win in the Best Rap Album category.

This installment of GRAMMY Rewind turns back the clock to 2016, revisiting Lamar's acceptance speech upon winning Best Rap Album for To Pimp A Butterfly. Though Lamar was alone on stage, he made it clear that he wouldn't be at the top of his game without the help of a broad support system. 

"First off, all glory to God, that's for sure," he said, kicking off a speech that went on to thank his parents, who he described as his "those who gave me the responsibility of knowing, of accepting the good with the bad."

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He also extended his love and gratitude to his fiancée, Whitney Alford, and shouted out his Top Dawg Entertainment labelmates. Lamar specifically praised Top Dawg's CEO, Anthony Tiffith, for finding and developing raw talent that might not otherwise get the chance to pursue their musical dreams.

"We'd never forget that: Taking these kids out of the projects, out of Compton, and putting them right here on this stage, to be the best that they can be," Lamar — a Compton native himself — continued, leading into an impassioned conclusion spotlighting some of the cornerstone rap albums that came before To Pimp a Butterfly.

"Hip-hop. Ice Cube. This is for hip-hop," he said. "This is for Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle. This is for Illmatic, this is for Nas. We will live forever. Believe that."

To Pimp a Butterfly singles "Alright" and "These Walls" earned Lamar three more GRAMMYs that night, the former winning Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song and the latter taking Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (the song features Bilal, Anna Wise and Thundercat). He also won Best Music Video for the remix of Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood." 

Lamar has since won Best Rap Album two more times, taking home the golden gramophone in 2018 for his blockbuster LP DAMN., and in 2023 for his bold fifth album, Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.

Watch Lamar's full acceptance speech above, and check back at GRAMMY.com every Friday for more GRAMMY Rewind episodes. 

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5 Takeaways From Peso Pluma's New Album 'GÉNESIS'
Peso Pluma

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5 Takeaways From Peso Pluma's New Album 'GÉNESIS'

'GÉNESIS drops June 22 on Peso Pluma's brand new label, Double P Records. Over 14 tracks, Doble P's third studio album brings corridos tumbados a few steps closer to the mainstream.

GRAMMYs/Jun 23, 2023 - 12:11 am

Earlier this year, 24-year-old singer/songwriter Peso Pluma made history when the song "Ella Baila Sola," a collaboration with California group Eslabón Armado, became an international hit, and the first música mexicana track to enter the Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100.

2023 has been nothing short of epic for the artist born Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija in Zapopan, Jalisco. He also released high-profile collaborations with pop star Becky G, Argentine producer Bizarrap and dembow pioneer El Alfa. Peso Pluma is currently one of the most streamed Latin artists in the world, and he continues this streak with GÉNESIS — his highly anticipated third studio outing.

GÉNESIS drops June 22 on Pluma's brand new label, Double P Records. Here are five takeaways from an album that brings the novel genre of corridos tumbados a few steps closer to the mainstream.

His Rebellious New Sound Is Mexican To The Core

Much has been written about the disruptive energy of corridos tumbados — the youthful, 2020’s movement that brought a breath of fresh air and plenty of irreverence to música mexicana by fusing it with a hip-hop sensibility and elements of trap and reggaetón. Older fans of traditional artists like Los Tigres del Norte and Banda El Recodo have reacted with the same kind of angry condemnation that the punk revolution evoked in classic rock adepts during the late ‘70s. 

But even though Peso Pluma belongs next to Natanael Cano and Eslabón Armado on the corridos tumbados forefront, his music is still faithful to the warmth and melodic immediacy of Mexican tradition. From the rousing "CARNAL" — a collaboration with Cano – to the wistful majesty of "LAGUNAS" with Jasiel Nuñe, the songs on GÉNESIS overflow with the kind of soulful trombone riffs, sophisticated bass accents and complex requinto lines that have defined banda and norteño for decades.  

He Has An Organic Connection With Urbano Music 

A few weeks before the release of GÉNESIS, Peso Pluma shocked the Latin music establishment by becoming the first música mexicana artist to guest on a Music Session by Argentina’s producing wunderkind Bizarrap. Even though the track emphasized the singer’s trademark style — relegating Bizarrap’s cinematic EDM aesthetic to the backdrop — the single demonstrated how comfortable Peso Pluma feels outside his genre of choice. 

One of the new album’s strongest cuts is "77," a seamless duet with Eladio Carrión, the influential American rapper of Puerto Rican origin. Unlike the Bizarrap session, here the trombone and syncopated string instruments blend deeply with Carrión’s low-key, confident flow.

To The Young Generation Of Mexican Stars, Collaboration Is Key 

The música mexicana genre is gregarious by nature, and having like-minded artists guesting on albums — particularly concert recordings — is nothing new. But Peso Pluma takes this notion to the next level, mirroring the hip-hop concept that the glow of a record can be measured by the amount of high-caliber collaborations in it. 

GÉNESIS portrays Peso Pluma’s generation as a nomadic family, climbing the ladder to chart success in coordinate steps. "SU CASA" boasts a high-energy duet with corridos star Luis R. Conriquez, and the languid "LUNA" features 22 year-old sensation Junior H.

There's Nothing Random About Peso Pluma’s Massive Popularity

Doble P’s infectious smile throughout Bizarrap’s YouTube session says it all: there is not an ounce of arrogance or self-importance his demeanor. The artist has captured the attention of the entire world without sacrificing his cultural identity or personhood. 

Currently the most streamed artist in Mexico, Peso Pluma is more than just a charismatic performer. The 14 tracks on GÉNESIS reveal him as a thoughtful composer whose intriguing melodies and slice-of-life lyrics will still resonate for years to come.

Corridos Tumbados Are Here To Stay

From the atmospheric opening cut "Rosa Pastel" — complete with a quirky visual shot in Amsterdam — to the brass-heavy lament of "Bye," GÉNESIS showcases corridos tumbados as a less volatile, more polished genre. Peso Pluma’s instinctive connection to the essence of Mexican music and its artistic values suggests that his current moment of glory may well be the beginning of a long lasting career.

Meet The Gen Z Women Claiming Space In The Regional Mexican Music Movement

Meet The Gen Z Women Claiming Space In The Regional Mexican Music Movement
Conexión Divina

Photo: Camila Noriega

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Meet The Gen Z Women Claiming Space In The Regional Mexican Music Movement

The regional Mexican music movement is clearly having its "Despacito" moment — yet female voices are largely absent from the increasingly popular, diverse genre. A handful of female Gen Z musicians are changing that narrative.

GRAMMYs/May 30, 2023 - 07:24 pm

Yahritza Martinez grew up hearing her father and uncle play música de tierra caliente, regional Mexican music played on violins, guitar and percussion from the states of Michoacán and Guerrero.  Even as a child, she astounded her family with the potency of her crystalline, soaring voice as she sang along.

Now 16, Yahritza is one of a growing number of young Mexican and Mexican American women who are adding their own swagger and sentiment to regional Mexican. Together, they are having a profound impact on a genre that is experiencing phenomenal growth.

The regional Mexican music movement is clearly having its "Despacito" moment — as of April, 14 regional Mexican tracks appear in the Billboard’s Hot 100, after only landing on the charts three times since 1958.  2022 stats from Spotify place regional Mexican’s streams up 450 percent over the last five years — female voices are largely absent. 

Regional Mexican is a general label that groups different styles of music incorporating the rural folklore of Mexico’s extensive geographies, often from an Anglocentric perspective. This can include styles such as banda Sinaloense, corridos, Sierreño, conjunto Norteño, corridos tumbados, and even mariachi, cumbia and son jarocho.

The difficulty female artists have breaking into the genre are multifold. In an industry discussion on the challenges of breaking female acts in regional Mexican, it was noted that 80 percent of the genre's consumers are male. However, the audience would likely be more gender-diverse if there were more regional Mexican songs written by women or for them — and that is definitely changing.

In April 2022, 15-year-old Yahritza became the youngest Latin artist ever on Billboard's Hot 100 chart — a record held for over 60 years by Ritchie Valens — for her  heartfelt breakup ballad, "Soy El Único." Expressed from a male perspective, it  was the first song Yahritza ever wrote, inspired by the heartbreak comments of other TikTokusers. The same year, Yahritza y su Esencia, a band formed with her brothers Mando and Jairo,  received a Latin GRAMMY nomination for Best New Artist.

It's an equally astounding achievement  that Yahritza y su Esencia broke into the infamously hyper-male regional Mexican movement.  To date she is the only female voice (albeit in a family band) on the popular 50-song Spotify playlist Sad Sierreño, her particular realm of the genre.

A History Of Regional Mexican Music

The variants of Norteño (regional Mexican that originated in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States) play particularly important roles in the collective Mexican American soundtrack. And many of these are based on the corrido, narrative songs born in the 1800s. Throughout the War for Independence and then the Revolution, corridos narrated the triumphs of heroes, their battles, epic adventures and even their horses. These musical stories also came to extol the virtues and lives of admired community members, hard-working people and immigrant struggles — a notable exception being the Narcocorrido subgenre that glorifies the exploits of drug lords. 

Yet, these songs — even when sung by women— always centered the male point of view and were frequently imbued with a toxic masculinity. As Maria Herrera Sobek, Professor Emerita in Chicana and Chicano Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara notes, even corridos that sung the praises of iconic women figures such as the soldaderas — the female soldiers and heroes of the revolution — did so from a masculine perspective.

"The Mexican ballad is really one of the very few, if not the only one, which is still a living tradition," Herrera-Sobek continues. Consequently, Mexican ballad forms will continue to evolve and reflect current circumstances.

In the mid-aughts, two subgenres began iterating on traditional ballads: Urban or trap corridos tumbados blended hip-hop, trap and Norteño. Elsewhere, nostalgic Sierreño folk music from Mexico’s northern mountain ranges, acquired a bedroom pop sheen and spread through social media, driving the popularity of so-called sad Sierreño, songs of amor and desamor.

gen z women of regional mexican music Yahritza y Su Esencia

Yahritza (center) y Su Esencia | José Alavez

This new regional Mexican toggles between the urban and the emo, and has found Gen Z fans on both sides of the border. And while women were largely absent from those early urban corridos and sad Sierreños,  they are now creating music that is unapologetically Mexican and  female. 

There are now four recording artists or bands that are creating a new narrative and centering female voices. By simply singing in  styles which have long been defined by and created for men,  artists like Yahritza y Su Esencia, Lluvia Arámbula, Ivonne Galaz and Conexión Divina are bucking centuries-old norms and codes.

Meet Regional Mexican Music's Mujeres

Zooming in from Argentina, where Yahritza y Su Esencia are performing at a conference, Yahritza declares that being a role model to other young women makes her feel grateful. "There's girls on my live that are like, 'I started playing the guitar because of you. I started singing because of you'," she tells GRAMMY.com. "'My confidence is now up because of you..' There was one girl that was like, 'you saved my life.'"

It wasn't an easy start, she notes. She was shy, a bit scared to sing, and worried about what people would say. But her potent voice, and the magic power of loading it with emotions, "helps me connect with so many hearts." With a soft smile she adds, "A lot of people say that I have an old soul."

Born in Oklahoma, 19-year-old Lluvia Arámbula is an accomplished requinto guitarist. She made a somewhat casual foray into regional Mexican music. "I just liked how everybody was doing the movement. And then I saw that there was no girls too, so I was like, well, let's do it."

gen z women of regional mexican music lluvia arambula

Lluvia Arámbula |  Photo by Barf

Her first musical loves were Sierreño and corridos, but she didn’t want to make the corridos tumbados. She preferred a more upbeat sound, writing and singing what she calls "corridos alterados'' that boast fast, word-packed flows. Strong, direct emotions play into her music’s power, offering inspiration "about, going forward, never stopping."

Arámbula has also become a model for young women. "Girls ask me for stuff about my life so that they can do essays about me in school!" she adds.

And for Arámbula, going forward in the Regional Mexican genre also means ignoring the critiques. As she entones in her song " "La Reina," (The Queen), "Criticism is raining down, but that won’t make me stop following my dreams."

Ivonne Galaz, also 19, hails from Ciudad Obregon, the second-largest city in the state of Sonora and  the second most violent city in the world. The state also has one of the highest rates of femicide in the land, so it is no surprise that Galaz is a vocal defender of women’s rights. In 2022,  Galaz released a tribute corrido, "Vanessa Guillen" in honor of the Latina U.S. Army soldier slain by a male soldier (The song was also included in the Netflix documentary on Guillén’s life).

Galaz grew up back and forth between Mexico and the U.S., but notes she is "100 percent Mexican." Galaz is the first female signee to Rancho Humilde, the record label responsible for the ascent of many of regional Mexican’s stars, including corridos star Natanael Cano. The first song she ever wrote, 2019’s "Golpes De La Vida," was recorded with Cano and now has more than 5.5 million views on YouTube. In 2021, Galaz released her first studio album, Voy En Camino.

Ivonne Galaz gen z women of regional mexican music

Ivonne Galaz | Courtesy of Rancho Humilde

Galaz's commitment to inclusivity appears throughout her music performances, where she switches pronouns in songs to make all feel welcome. "If you tell me, ‘I don’t feel comfortable with you identifying me as a woman’, I respect who you are and will never disallow your rules, how you dress, how you feel," she says.

Galaz also shrugs off criticism that she dresses like a man. "I’m not all about the little dresses," she says. "Girls told me on tours, that thanks to me, they took courage to dress the same way." 

The trio Conexion Divina’s hashtags on social media tell their story succinctly and elegantly, indicating: their three instruments  #bajoloche #requinto #guitarra, musical philosophy #mujeresqueinspiran #grupodemujeres (women that inspire, womens’ band), and the importance of representing Mexico #musicamexican #vivamexico #regionalmexicano.

Liz Trujillo, Sandra Calixto, and Ashlee Valenzuela are 18, 20 and 23 years old and grew up in California, Texas, and Arizona, respectively. Conexión Divina released their debut album, Tres Mundos, in April. The trio is the first ever all-women Gen Z Sierreño group, and the first Sierreño group to perform at the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

They met online and moved to L.A. where Trujillo was based, to make music together.  As they explain on Zoom from L.A, they took their name in part from "Mujeres Divinas" (Divine Women), sung by the legendary Vicente Fernandez. But they didn’t want to be "like the cringey mujeres divinas," and they also wanted to make note of the online origins of their musical bonds, hence, the divine connection.

Self-taught musicians, they quickly realized that the regional Mexican music they loved was "all guys, no girls," says Valenzuela. They were often not taken seriously, but never let this hold them back.

The motifs on their guitars express their boundary-breaking perspective, with each instrument wrapped for each artist in their favorite color and something that represents them. Valenzuela chose the image of Poison Ivy for her guitar because "she empowers women in a different way. Because for me, she's a bisexual character, and I really related to her." Trujillo chose Ellie from the video game "The Last of Us," because as a gay character, "[Ellie] is just like everything that I aspire to be." The pink motifs on Calixto's guitar represent her femininity. "[I'm] the more girly one," she says.

The young women interviewed for this piece note the pushback for their choice of genre — especially, but not exclusively, from Mexico’s more traditional audiences. But they are not without role models. 

gen z women of regional mexican conexion divina

Conexión Divina | Camila Noriega 

Rather, they further the musical path first forged by two female regional Mexican singers, who were born within a year of each other on either side of the border in the early 20th century: Texas’ Lydia Mendoza, whose "Mal Hombre" sang of a man who abandoned her (but hardly from a position of weakness), and ranchera diva Chavela Vargas,  who came out at age 81.  Both of these fierce artists left their mark on their genres and broke molds limiting women artists. 

Mendoza shaped Tejano music and was first the genre’s female icon. In 1982, she became the first Texan to be awarded the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship Lifetime Achievement. Vargas, a globally beloved, pivotal figure in Mexican music and icon in the Spanish-speaking LGBTQ community, changed Mexico’s ranchera music with her unique interpretation and performance style.

This new generation of female regional Mexican musicians also noted the pioneering influence of Jenni Rivera, the fierce Paquita del Barrio, Gloria Trevi, Latin music’s first female rock star, Mexican no-holds barred singer Ana Gabriel, and beloved borderlands songstress, Selena. Collectively, they upended expectations for women in Latin music, while appealing to ever-broadening audiences a trend the Gen Z regional Mexican artists are continuing today.

Using their music as an instrument to build the future, they express and foreground a binational, bicultural identity that has no need for the approval of the male gaze. In the lyrics of her anti-femicide song, "Ni Una Más" (Not One More), Galaz rejects a saying common to several Spanish-speaking lands, "Calladita te ves más bonita," or "You look cuter with your mouth shut." As she entones in another of her songs, "Empoderada,"  "That woman cannot be stopped. She knows what she is worth, always empowered."  

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A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea
Franc Moody

Photo: Rachel Kupfer 

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A Guide To Modern Funk For The Dance Floor: L'Imperatrice, Shiro Schwarz, Franc Moody, Say She She & Moniquea

James Brown changed the sound of popular music when he found the power of the one and unleashed the funk with "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag." Today, funk lives on in many forms, including these exciting bands from across the world.

GRAMMYs/Nov 25, 2022 - 04:23 pm

It's rare that a genre can be traced back to a single artist or group, but for funk, that was James Brown. The Godfather of Soul coined the phrase and style of playing known as "on the one," where the first downbeat is emphasized, instead of the typical second and fourth beats in pop, soul and other styles. As David Cheal eloquently explains, playing on the one "left space for phrases and riffs, often syncopated around the beat, creating an intricate, interlocking grid which could go on and on." You know a funky bassline when you hear it; its fat chords beg your body to get up and groove.

Brown's 1965 classic, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," became one of the first funk hits, and has been endlessly sampled and covered over the years, along with his other groovy tracks. Of course, many other funk acts followed in the '60s, and the genre thrived in the '70s and '80s as the disco craze came and went, and the originators of hip-hop and house music created new music from funk and disco's strong, flexible bones built for dancing.

Legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins learned the power of the one from playing in Brown's band, and brought it to George Clinton, who created P-funk, an expansive, Afrofuturistic, psychedelic exploration of funk with his various bands and projects, including Parliament-Funkadelic. Both Collins and Clinton remain active and funkin', and have offered their timeless grooves to collabs with younger artists, including Kali Uchis, Silk Sonic, and Omar Apollo; and Kendrick Lamar, Flying Lotus, and Thundercat, respectively.

In the 1980s, electro-funk was born when artists like Afrika Bambaataa, Man Parrish, and Egyptian Lover began making futuristic beats with the Roland TR-808 drum machine — often with robotic vocals distorted through a talk box. A key distinguishing factor of electro-funk is a de-emphasis on vocals, with more phrases than choruses and verses. The sound influenced contemporaneous hip-hop, funk and electronica, along with acts around the globe, while current acts like Chromeo, DJ Stingray, and even Egyptian Lover himself keep electro-funk alive and well.

Today, funk lives in many places, with its heavy bass and syncopated grooves finding way into many nooks and crannies of music. There's nu-disco and boogie funk, nodding back to disco bands with soaring vocals and dance floor-designed instrumentation. G-funk continues to influence Los Angeles hip-hop, with innovative artists like Dam-Funk and Channel Tres bringing the funk and G-funk, into electro territory. Funk and disco-centered '70s revival is definitely having a moment, with acts like Ghost Funk Orchestra and Parcels, while its sparkly sprinklings can be heard in pop from Dua Lipa, Doja Cat, and, in full "Soul Train" character, Silk Sonic. There are also acts making dreamy, atmospheric music with a solid dose of funk, such as Khruangbin’s global sonic collage.

There are many bands that play heavily with funk, creating lush grooves designed to get you moving. Read on for a taste of five current modern funk and nu-disco artists making band-led uptempo funk built for the dance floor. Be sure to press play on the Spotify playlist above, and check out GRAMMY.com's playlist on Apple Music, Amazon Music and Pandora.

Say She She

Aptly self-described as "discodelic soul," Brooklyn-based seven-piece Say She She make dreamy, operatic funk, led by singer-songwriters Nya Gazelle Brown, Piya Malik and Sabrina Mileo Cunningham. Their '70s girl group-inspired vocal harmonies echo, sooth and enchant as they cover poignant topics with feminist flair.

While they’ve been active in the New York scene for a few years, they’ve gained wider acclaim for the irresistible music they began releasing this year, including their debut album, Prism. Their 2022 debut single "Forget Me Not" is an ode to ground-breaking New York art collective Guerilla Girls, and "Norma" is their protest anthem in response to the news that Roe vs. Wade could be (and was) overturned. The band name is a nod to funk legend Nile Rodgers, from the "Le freak, c'est chi" exclamation in Chic's legendary tune "Le Freak."

Moniquea

Moniquea's unique voice oozes confidence, yet invites you in to dance with her to the super funky boogie rhythms. The Pasadena, California artist was raised on funk music; her mom was in a cover band that would play classics like Aretha Franklin’s "Get It Right" and Gladys Knight’s "Love Overboard." Moniquea released her first boogie funk track at 20 and, in 2011, met local producer XL Middelton — a bonafide purveyor of funk. She's been a star artist on his MoFunk Records ever since, and they've collabed on countless tracks, channeling West Coast energy with a heavy dose of G-funk, sunny lyrics and upbeat, roller disco-ready rhythms.

Her latest release is an upbeat nod to classic West Coast funk, produced by Middleton, and follows her February 2022 groovy, collab-filled album, On Repeat.

Shiro Schwarz

Shiro Schwarz is a Mexico City-based duo, consisting of Pammela Rojas and Rafael Marfil, who helped establish a modern funk scene in the richly creative Mexican metropolis. On "Electrify" — originally released in 2016 on Fat Beats Records and reissued in 2021 by MoFunk — Shiro Schwarz's vocals playfully contrast each other, floating over an insistent, upbeat bassline and an '80s throwback electro-funk rhythm with synth flourishes.

Their music manages to be both nostalgic and futuristic — and impossible to sit still to. 2021 single "Be Kind" is sweet, mellow and groovy, perfect chic lounge funk. Shiro Schwarz’s latest track, the joyfully nostalgic "Hey DJ," is a collab with funkstress Saucy Lady and U-Key.

L'Impératrice

L'Impératrice (the empress in French) are a six-piece Parisian group serving an infectiously joyful blend of French pop, nu-disco, funk and psychedelia. Flore Benguigui's vocals are light and dreamy, yet commanding of your attention, while lyrics have a feminist touch.

During their energetic live sets, L'Impératrice members Charles de Boisseguin and Hagni Gwon (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), and Tom Daveau (drums) deliver extended instrumental jam sessions to expand and connect their music. Gaugué emphasizes the thick funky bass, and Benguigui jumps around the stage while sounding like an angel. L’Impératrice’s latest album, 2021’s Tako Tsubo, is a sunny, playful French disco journey.

Franc Moody

Franc Moody's bio fittingly describes their music as "a soul funk and cosmic disco sound." The London outfit was birthed by friends Ned Franc and Jon Moody in the early 2010s, when they were living together and throwing parties in North London's warehouse scene. In 2017, the group grew to six members, including singer and multi-instrumentalist Amber-Simone.

Their music feels at home with other electro-pop bands like fellow Londoners Jungle and Aussie act Parcels. While much of it is upbeat and euphoric, Franc Moody also dips into the more chilled, dreamy realm, such as the vibey, sultry title track from their recently released Into the Ether.

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